Monday, October 11, 2010

Simple Root of - Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (Build R2CA016)

Here are the steps for a simple root of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (Build R2CA016).I have added the Build ID, but it should work with other X10s as well.The Basic Procedure...Basically, we want to be able to use AC-SWM (The Android Central Sideload Wonder Machine) to load UniversalAndroot.apk, which is the one-click root app that roots and unroots the phone right from an application.Rooting the phone in this way seems much safer to me than the multi-step reflashing proceedures that I have seen with other rooting procedures.Once you have UniversalAndroot.apk installed on you phone, you will be able to turn root access on and off. It's that simple...

The main problem is in getting AC-SWM to see the phone when it runs the adb.exe server/client. AC-SWM won't be able to see the phone (on Windows 7), if you are using the USB drivers that install by default (at the time that you first plugged your X10 phone into your computer). The standard USB drivers look like "Sony Ericsson ...bla-bla-bla ..." from the "Device Manager". What you want to see is "Android Phone..." instead.So you need to get your computer to load the Android SDK USB/ADB driver instead of the standard broken "Sony Ericsson" USB driver, for you X10 phone.

One more thing...AC-SWM needs to use the adb.exe and some dlls from the same SDK that your USB drivers come from. So some software files need to be updated in the AC-SWM package as well.

I ended up installing all of the SDKs but you may be able to update only the USB Drivers (Usb driver package, revision 3).

Get the SDK USB Driver to load (Not the one from the net)Plug the X10 into your computer if you have not done so. Allow the USB drivers to be found on the net, and allow them to install. You can now look at the VIDs of your device by right-clicking on "Computer" and choosing "Manage", then choose "Device Manager" Choose the device "Sony Ericsson..." -> "Sony Ericsson ...". Then right-click properties. Goto the "Details" tab and choose "Hardware Ids". You can highlight these 2 IDs and copy them to notepad.

Edit the file "android-sdk-windows\usb_driver\android_winusb.inf" in note pad, and add the following to the section that has similar data...This data has what I found for my X10 phone in the prior step. It should be the same for your X10 phone (double check please).;;Sony Ericsson Xperia X10%SingleAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0FCE&PID_D12E&MI_01%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0FCE&PID_D12E&REV_0100&MI_01

Now to re-install the USB drivers...

Here's what I did...From the "Device Manager", uninstall (and check the delete files option) for the "Sony Ericsson ..." device.Unplug the device from your USB port.Disconnect your computer from the network. This will stop windows from automatically installing the drivers from the net.Plug the X10 back into the USB port.Allow windows to install the "Unkown Device" for the X10 Phone.Now, use the Device Manager to Update Drivers and point windows to look for drivers under "android-sdk-windows\usb_driver" (check the sub directories option). It should find and install the Adroid USB Development Drivers. I have found that "PC Connect" still works as expected with these drivers.

Finally, get AC-SWM to use the correct files...

Extract the AC-SWM-v1.0.zip to the directory AC-SWM-v1.0.

Now copy the following files from android-sdk-windows\tools to AC-SWM-v1.0\ replacing the existing files...- adb.exe- AdbWinApi.dll- AdbWinUsbApi.dll

At this point we have set up your computer with the proper USB drivers and, AC-SWM with the correct software that "Side loader Wounder Machine" can use to side load UniversalAndroot.apk on to the X10.

Now..., use Side loader Wounder Machine to install UniversalAndroot.apk.

When you run Side loader Wounder Machine, it should now be able to recognize you X10 phone and you should see its Serial Number in the DOS window...Finally, install UniversalAndroot.apkusing Side loader Wounder Machine (YouTube Tutorial).Once you have installed UniversalAndroot.apk, you can root and unroot with one easy click.

Major kudos to the folks who developed AC-SWM and One-Click root... They are the true Droid Masters!

Hope this helps anyone out there who desires X10 root access. Let me know if it works for you.Have fun and respect the root!